Broadband availability
The federal government has provided billions of dollars of subsidies to expand broadband Internet in rural areas but doesn't require recipients to include redundancies in those networks.
The Federal Communications Commission this year raised the benchmark speeds that it uses to gauge the availability of broadband Internet. The new benchmarks set a downloading rate of 25 megabits per second and an uploading speed of 3 megabits per second — up significantly over the 2010 standards of 4 megabits for downloading and 1 megabit for uploading.
This spreadsheet shows the numbers and percentages of people who have access to broadband Internet at the FCC's new benchmark speeds.
| State | Total Population | Total Without Access to High-Speed Internet | Percent Without Access to High-Speed Internet | Urban Population | Urban Population Without Access to High-Speed Internet | Percent of Urban Population Without Access to High-Speed Internet | Rural Population | Rural Population Without Access to High-Speed Internet | Percent of Rural Population Without Access to High-Speed Internet |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 4,880,000 | 1,701,000 | 35% | 2,898,000 | 588,000 | 20% | 1,982,000 | 1,113,000 | 56% |
| Alaska | 740,000 | 285,000 | 38% | 493,000 | 86,000 | 17% | 247,000 | 199,000 | 81% |
| Arizona | 6,751,000 | 1,162,000 | 17% | 6,079,000 | 622,000 | 10% | 671,000 | 540,000 | 80% |
| Arkansas | 2,992,000 | 1,751,000 | 59% | 1,704,000 | 668,000 | 39% | 1,288,000 | 1,084,000 | 84% |
| California | 38,338,000 | 2,601,000 | 7% | 36,451,000 | 1,335,000 | 4% | 1,888,000 | 1,266,000 | 67% |
| Colorado | 5,262,000 | 943,000 | 18% | 4,553,000 | 438,000 | 10% | 709,000 | 504,000 | 71% |
| Connecticut | 3,619,000 | 50,000 | 1% | 3,184,000 | 29,000 | 1% | 435,000 | 21,000 | 5% |
| Delaware | 931,000 | 30,000 | 3% | 775,000 | 10,000 | 1% | 156,000 | 20,000 | 13% |
| District of Columbia | 622,000 | 9,000 | 2% | 622,000 | 9,000 | 2% | 0 | 0 | 0% |
| Florida | 19,631,000 | 1,278,000 | 7% | 17,903,000 | 571,000 | 3% | 1,728,000 | 708,000 | 41% |
| Georgia | 10,129,000 | 1,403,000 | 14% | 7,632,000 | 303,000 | 4% | 2,497,000 | 1,100,000 | 44% |
| Hawaii | 1,406,000 | 57,000 | 4% | 1,295,000 | 7,000 | 1% | 111,000 | 50,000 | 45% |
| Idaho | 1,645,000 | 820,000 | 50% | 1,174,000 | 446,000 | 38% | 472,000 | 374,000 | 79% |
| Illinois | 12,958,000 | 710,000 | 5% | 11,499,000 | 139,000 | 1% | 1,459,000 | 570,000 | 39% |
| Indiana | 6,606,000 | 947,000 | 14% | 4,816,000 | 160,000 | 3% | 1,790,000 | 787,000 | 44% |
| Iowa | 3,090,000 | 761,000 | 25% | 2,009,000 | 109,000 | 5% | 1,081,000 | 652,000 | 60% |
| Kansas | 2,908,000 | 794,000 | 27% | 2,190,000 | 282,000 | 13% | 718,000 | 512,000 | 71% |
| Kentucky | 4,435,000 | 1,767,000 | 40% | 2,616,000 | 445,000 | 17% | 1,819,000 | 1,322,000 | 73% |
| Louisiana | 4,584,000 | 1,325,000 | 29% | 3,348,000 | 531,000 | 16% | 1,237,000 | 793,000 | 64% |
| Maine | 1,340,000 | 291,000 | 22% | 511,000 | 33,000 | 6% | 829,000 | 258,000 | 31% |
| Maryland | 5,925,000 | 418,000 | 7% | 5,168,000 | 216,000 | 4% | 757,000 | 202,000 | 27% |
| Massachusetts | 6,624,000 | 238,000 | 4% | 6,092,000 | 140,000 | 2% | 532,000 | 98,000 | 18% |
| Michigan | 9,858,000 | 1,250,000 | 13% | 7,344,000 | 282,000 | 4% | 2,514,000 | 968,000 | 39% |
| Minnesota | 5,424,000 | 725,000 | 13% | 4,000,000 | 55,000 | 1% | 1,424,000 | 669,000 | 47% |
| Mississippi | 3,006,000 | 1,196,000 | 40% | 1,483,000 | 261,000 | 18% | 1,523,000 | 935,000 | 61% |
| Missouri | 6,103,000 | 1,792,000 | 29% | 4,307,000 | 523,000 | 12% | 1,796,000 | 1,269,000 | 71% |
| Montana | 1,018,000 | 882,000 | 87% | 574,000 | 482,000 | 84% | 444,000 | 400,000 | 90% |
| Nebraska | 1,867,000 | 502,000 | 27% | 1,390,000 | 154,000 | 11% | 477,000 | 349,000 | 73% |
| Nevada | 2,876,000 | 173,000 | 6% | 2,722,000 | 75,000 | 3% | 155,000 | 98,000 | 64% |
| New Hampshire | 1,335,000 | 228,000 | 17% | 801,000 | 37,000 | 5% | 534,000 | 191,000 | 36% |
| New Jersey | 8,900,000 | 172,000 | 2% | 8,430,000 | 112,000 | 1% | 470,000 | 60,000 | 13% |
| New Mexico | 2,136,000 | 643,000 | 30% | 1,672,000 | 287,000 | 17% | 465,000 | 356,000 | 77% |
| New York | 19,531,000 | 518,000 | 3% | 17,199,000 | 22,000 | 0% | 2,333,000 | 496,000 | 21% |
| North Carolina | 9,977,000 | 1,446,000 | 14% | 6,671,000 | 292,000 | 4% | 3,307,000 | 1,154,000 | 35% |
| North Dakota | 690,000 | 102,000 | 15% | 427,000 | 4,000 | 1% | 263,000 | 98,000 | 37% |
| Ohio | 11,587,000 | 1,935,000 | 17% | 9,053,000 | 705,000 | 8% | 2,535,000 | 1,230,000 | 49% |
| Oklahoma | 3,856,000 | 1,882,000 | 49% | 2,563,000 | 738,000 | 29% | 1,293,000 | 1,145,000 | 89% |
| Oregon | 3,957,000 | 276,000 | 7% | 3,228,000 | 29,000 | 1% | 730,000 | 248,000 | 34% |
| Pennsylvania | 12,842,000 | 1,695,000 | 13% | 10,111,000 | 717,000 | 7% | 2,731,000 | 979,000 | 36% |
| Rhode Island | 1,052,000 | 7,000 | 1% | 953,000 | 0 | 0% | 98,000 | 6,000 | 6% |
| South Carolina | 4,812,000 | 1,085,000 | 23% | 3,229,000 | 387,000 | 12% | 1,583,000 | 698,000 | 44% |
| South Dakota | 837,000 | 160,000 | 19% | 489,000 | 3,000 | 1% | 348,000 | 157,000 | 45% |
| Tennessee | 6,547,000 | 1,148,000 | 18% | 4,369,000 | 159,000 | 4% | 2,177,000 | 989,000 | 45% |
| Texas | 26,549,000 | 9,987,000 | 38% | 22,585,000 | 6,653,000 | 29% | 3,964,000 | 3,334,000 | 84% |
| Utah | 2,931,000 | 149,000 | 5% | 2,662,000 | 44,000 | 2% | 268,000 | 105,000 | 39% |
| Vermont | 630,000 | 502,000 | 80% | 247,000 | 157,000 | 63% | 383,000 | 346,000 | 90% |
| Virginia | 8,290,000 | 1,734,000 | 21% | 6,295,000 | 453,000 | 7% | 1,995,000 | 1,281,000 | 64% |
| Washington | 6,998,000 | 277,000 | 4% | 5,887,000 | 39,000 | 1% | 1,111,000 | 238,000 | 21% |
| West Virginia | 1,869,000 | 1,042,000 | 56% | 909,000 | 328,000 | 36% | 960,000 | 714,000 | 74% |
| Wisconsin | 5,783,000 | 962,000 | 17% | 4,071,000 | 52,000 | 1% | 1,712,000 | 910,000 | 53% |
| Wyoming | 585,000 | 175,000 | 30% | 378,000 | 23,000 | 6% | 207,000 | 152,000 | 74% |